Thursday, February 12, 2015

A look on the technical side: Telemetry SDK

Today we would like to talk about something that deviates a bit from the typical posts you see on our blog - we want to shine some light on our Telemetry SDK library and examples of its use for Euro Truck Simulator 2 (the same SDK will be available for American Truck Simulator from day one).

You're probably asking yourself what is that Telemetry thing and what does it really do? The SDK gives modders an easy to use API which grants access to a set of in-game data such as (but not limited to): truck make and model, speed, current gear, map coordinates, current job info, engine RPM, acceleration forces and many more similar stats about your game. All of this data can be used to create various modifications related to the game or even to create a more immersive experience.

The SDK available here requires programming knowledge to use, but our community has already created a number of various projects using our SDK. Let's have a look at some of them:

Telemetry Web Server and Mobile Dashboard

This fan-made add-on gives the player an opportunity to see in-game status via a web page in a browser on a local network. In practice, this means that your tablet or smartphone can serve you as a mobile dashboard display showing your gauges as well as essential trip info, giving you a chance to keep the main screen less cluttered.

Enhanced Force Feedback for Logitech devices

Logitech wheel users may like how this rather technical plugin gives them an ability to achieve enhanced force feedback. This plugin will make your wheel act differently from standard game by adding a compensation for various features seen in modern trucks and a wide set of different responses to when your truck is being driven under more demanding conditions. Author of this mod also offers a set of improvements for gear shifting and transmission - check out the thread above for more information.

Enhanced Truck Sounds

Enthusiasts of roaring engines will appreciate this add-on delivering a louder set of engine and truck noises right into your game, as the aim of this modification is to provide a different take on realistic driving experience by enhancing the game with additional sounds based off truck performance and behavior derived from the telemetry data.

G19 LCD display

This add-on, just like you may have guessed from its name, allows display of various gameplay information using LCD display of your G19 keyboard working similarly as the mobile dashboard mentioned above.

To get started

If you want to get started be sure to check our modding section to download the latest TELEMETRY SDK.

Also you may want to check fan-created GitHub repository containing a live implementation of the API that will help you in getting started creating your own add-ons and plugins for Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Let us know in the comments if you know and like any other telemetry-based projects we have failed to discover ourselves!

Grab the latest release from the Github Release page: https://github.com/nlhans/ets2-sdk-plugin/releases

Installation is easy inside Euro Truck Simulator 2. Place the acquired DLL inside bin/win_x86/plugins/ of your ETS2 installation. It is possible the plugins directory doesn't exists yet (as with every default installation). In that case you need to create the plugins folder. Place the DLL inside the plugins folder.

You will now notice that each time ETS2 now starts it prompts the SDK has been activated. Unfortunately you have to press OK to this message every time, but it's a small price to pay for the added features that are possible via the SDK.

This game have big future , but some things have to be included ... like - chance to see my other trucks on the road and when i past them to see colours of my company and also more statistics - my tickets for red signal for hi speed , too many things still to be done to make this game more realistic , when we can find police car or ambulance on the road ?

Hello SCS Team, First i have to say, congratulations for Euro Truck Simulator 2 incredible game and all your hard work with other games too, Congratulations! Second, Telemetry SDK will be synchronized with tablets and smartphones? This will be nice, spectacular, wonderful! Imagine where ours and yours, computers stay and assembly a cockpit and a wheel drive, like as Logitech G27, with a tablet 9'pol pull in the, adapted in the "console" as the same in a truck cabin console, Perfect! Excellent Job SCS Team! Sorry about my English and Greetings for Brazil!

I was just thinking the very same thing whilst scrolling through these comments. I have a second screen that sits redundant while playing 99.9% of games, all that screen estate could be used to brilliant effect in a game like this. Imagine if they had implemented proper AI company drivers, and you could monitor them on a live GPS tracking system... that would be immense.

SCS Software

Take a look under the hood! SCS Software - makers of vehicle simulation games including 18 Wheels of Steel Series, Bus Driver, and Euro Truck Simulator. Currently working hard on Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator.